154th Conferral of Degrees, Saturday, May 17, 2025
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Order of Exercises
Processional
“With Honor Crowned”
– Albert Ketelbey
Performance by:
University of Illinois Commencement Band
Conducted by Kevin Geraldi, Director of Bands
Singing of the Star-Spangled Banner
Performance by:
University of Illinois Commencement Band
Conducted by Barry L. Houser, Associate Director of Bands
Land Acknowledgement
Greetings from the Chancellor
Robert J. Jones, Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Greetings from the Board of Trustees
Jesse Ruiz, Chairman, Class of 1988
Greetings from the President
Timothy L. Killeen, President of the University of Illinois System
Conferring of Honorary Degrees
Doctor of Science and Letters, Sabina Alkire
Doctor of Humane Letters, Thomas Burrell
Doctor of Humane Letters, Larry Gies
Musical Selections
“Fanfare for a Festival”
– Ron Nelson
Performance by:
The Combined Chorus
The Black Chorus
Conducted by Ollie Watts Davis
The Varsity Men’s Glee Club
Conducted by Andrew Major
The Women’s Glee Club
Conducted by Andrea Solya
“Illinois”
– Archibald Johnston/C. H. Chamberlain
Performance by:
The Combined Chorus
Eghonghon Eromosele and Demia Simon, soloists from the Class of 2025
Class of 2025 Commencement Address
Chancellor Robert J. Jones
Conferring of Graduate and Professional Degrees; Undergraduate Degrees; Recognition of Bronze Tablet Scholars and ROTC Candidates
President Timothy L. Killeen
Tassel Turn and “Hail to the Orange”
Hail to the Orange,
Hail to the Blue,
Hail Alma Mater,
Ever so true.
We love no other,
So let our motto be
Victory, Illinois Varsity!
Performance by:
University of Illinois Commencement Band
Conducted by Barry L. Houser, Associate Director of Bands
Recessional
“Pomp and Circumstance”
– Edward Elgar
Performance by:
University of Illinois Commencement Band
Conducted by Hannah Rudy, Assistant Director of Athletic Bands
Memorial Stadium Commencement Map
Livestream Captioning
University Honors
Bronze Tablet Scholars
The University Honors designation, the highest academic honor awarded to an undergraduate, is limited to those students who have demonstrated their capacity for sustained academic excellence of a high order. To be eligible for this honor, students must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5 and must rank on the basis of cumulative grade point average in the top three percent of their college graduating class on the basis of all work taken through the academic term prior to graduation. University Honors recipients wear orange and blue braided cords as part of their formal academic attire. As recipients of this honor, each of the following students will have his or her name inscribed on a bronze tablet that is displayed in the corridor of the University Library. For this reason, University Honors recipients are known informally as “Bronze Tablet Scholars.”
Chancellor’s Scholars
A four-year program open to undergraduates in all curricula, the Campus Honors Program fosters collaborative relationships between exceptional students and distinguished faculty through small courses, a faculty mentor system and competitive summer research and travel grants. Admission is awarded to only 125 of the approximately 7,000 freshmen entering the university each year, plus about a dozen admitted as first-semester sophomores. The following Chancellor’s Scholars are this year’s graduates of the Campus Honors Program.
Reserve Officers’ Training Corps
The following students have received academic credit for participating in one of the affiliated R.O.T.C. programs and earned commissions in the United States military.
Graduates and Candidates
This list is organized by college, degree and curriculum. Recipients of multiple degrees have an asterisk (*) after their names.
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